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This Week in NASA History: Apollo 9 Launches – March 3, 1969

This week in 1969, Apollo 9 launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
This week in 1969, Apollo 9 launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

This week in 1969, Apollo 9 launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Its primary objective was to perform an engineering test of the lunar module and overall check of the launch vehicle and spacecraft systems, the crew, and procedures. All prime mission objectives were successfully met. Apollo 9 was the second crewed mission to launch on a Saturn V rocket. The Saturn V, developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, is the most powerful rocket to have ever flown successfully. Today, Marshall is developing NASA’s Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket ever built, capable of sending astronauts to the Moon, Mars and deeper into space than ever before.

The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.

Image Credit: (NASA)